Extracellular aldonolactonase

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to hydrolysis of hexose-δ-lactones by use of an  S. thermophile  extracellular aldonolactonase. In particular the present disclosure relates to compositions including a  S. thermophile  extracellular aldonolactonase and methods of use thereof.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of 14/051,402, filed Oct. 13, 2013, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/813,153, which is a U.S. National Phase Patent Application of PCT/US2011/041704, filed Jun. 23, 2011, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/369,358, filed Jul. 30, 2010, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference, in its entirety.

SUBMISSION OF SEQUENCE LISTING AS ASCII TEXT FILE

The content of the following submission on ASCII text file is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety: a computer readable form (CRF) of the Sequence Listing (file name: 677792000602SeqList.txt, date recorded: date: Mar. 7, 2014, size: 28 KB).

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to hydrolysis of hexose-δ-lactones by use of an S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase. In particular the present disclosure relates to compositions including an S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase and methods of use thereof.

BACKGROUND

Lignocellulosic biomass is an abundant renewable resource and a potential feedstock for the production of liquid fuels and other value-added products (1). The principal barriers to the production of lignocellulose-derived biofuels are the high costs of chemical pretreatment and enzymes for depolymerization (2). The thermophilic fungus, Sporotrichum thermophile, very rapidly degrades cellulose, and metabolizes powdered cellulose and glucose at nearly same rates (3). The thermostability of the hydrolytic enzymes from this organism provides practical advantages, such as high enzymatic activity over a broad pH range, over those from the mesophilic fungus, Hypocrea jecorina (syn. Trichoderma reesei), which has traditionally been used for production of biomass degrading enzymes. During growth on cellulosic substrates, S. thermophile secretes cellulases, hemicellulases (4), oxidative enzymes (5), and many proteins of unknown function.

Cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH) is an extracellular hemo-flavoprotein that is produced in large amounts by S. thermophile during growth on cellulose (5). CDH is produced by many cellulolytic fungi (6). It oxidizes the reducing end of cellobiose and longer cellodextrins to the corresponding aldonolactones (FIG. 1). For all cellulolytic microorganisms, the sugar acid yield from cellulose could be improved by increasing the expression level of CDH and glucose oxidases.

Aldonolactones, or sugar lactones, are unstable in aqueous solution and undergo hydrolysis to form the corresponding aldonic acids. The extent and rate of uncatalyzed hydrolysis are dependent on the specific lactone, pH, and temperature. The equilibrium constant between glucono-δ-lactone and gluconic acid is 7.7, favoring gluconic acid, and the half-life of glucono-δ-lactone in water at room temperature and pH 5.0 is approximately 1 hour (10). However, despite this lack of stability, fungi such as S. thermophile have evolved enzymes to catalyze the hydrolysis of sugar lactones to their corresponding aldonic acids. This hydrolysis to aldonic acid increases susceptibility of cellulose to subsequent hydrolysis by cellulolytic enzymes such as cellulases. Therefore, efficient conversion of sugar lactones to aldonic acids can have beneficial effects on cellulose degradation and, thus, on biofuel formation (FIG. 1).

Enzymatic hydrolysis of sugar lactones has been mostly studied in the context of the pentose phosphate pathway (11-14). In the pentose phosphate pathway glucose-6-phosphate is converted to 6-phospho-gluconolactone by glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. The lactone is then hydrolyzed by 6-phosphogluconlactonase (PGL) to generate 6-phosphogluconate and finally converted to ribulose-5-phosphate. In glycolysis-deficient strains of Escherichia coli, deletion of the PGL gene leads to severe inhibition of growth on glucose (15), clearly demonstrating that spontaneous hydrolysis of 6-phosphogluconolactone is insufficient in vivo.

There have been reports of aldonolactonase activity secreted into the culture filtrates of diverse fungi (16-17). An aldonolactonase from Aspergillus niger was purified by Bruchmann et al. (16) and was shown to be an important part of the fungal cellulolytic system. However, extracellular aldonolactonases have not been purified, identified, or characterized from S. thermophile.

Reactions at high temperatures and acidic pH values are critical for the enzymatic conversion of plant cell wall polysaccharides to fermentable sugars in the emerging biofuel industry. High temperature conversions lower the risk of bacterial contamination and enzymes usually have faster turnover at high temperatures. Low pH is also beneficial because of the reduced risk of contamination. Cellulases work optimally at pH 4.8-5.0 and it makes the process easier if all the enzymes have similar pH optima so they can be used simultaneously. Thus, it is important in the art to have thermostable enzymes isolated from thermophilic fungi, such as S. thermophile, that are active over a broad range of pH values for the hydrolysis of lactones produced during the conversion of biofuel feedstock plant cell wall polysaccharides to fermentable sugars. Compositions and methods comprising aldonolactonases active over a broad range of pH values will find utility in the enzymatic depolymerization of lignocellulose.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to recombinant polypeptides with conserved motifs and lactonase activity, such as Sporotrichum thermophile aldonolactonase 1, variants thereof, and fragments thereof. The present disclosure further relates to compositions including a polypeptide with conserved motifs and aldonolactonase activity and food additives containing these compositions. Moreover, the present disclosure relates to methods for the production of lactonic acid by hydrolysis of hexose-containing poly- or oligosaccharides, methods of deconstructing biomass, methods of food processing, methods of textile cleaning, and methods of paper pulp bleaching, by using such compositions. The present disclosure further relates to host cells containing a recombinant polypeptide, which has conserved motifs and lactonase activity, and compositions containing these host cells.

Thus, one aspect provides recombinant polypeptides containing a GPRH motif (SEQ ID NO: 9) and a DPTGxF/Y motif (SEQ ID NO: 10) where the polypeptide has lactonase activity. In certain embodiments, the recombinant polypeptide contains the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1. In certain embodiments, the recombinant polypeptide contains the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2. In certain embodiments, the recombinant polypeptide contains the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3.

Another aspect of the invention provides compositions containing the recombinant polypeptide according to the preceding aspect in any of its embodiments. In certain embodiments, the composition further contains at least one additional polypeptide. In certain embodiments that may be combined with the preceding embodiment, the at least one additional polypeptide is cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH). In other embodiments that may be combined with the preceding embodiment having the composition further contain at least one additional polypeptide, the at least one polypeptide is glucose oxidase (GOX).

Yet another aspect of the invention provides an expression vector containing, operably linked to a regulatory sequence, a polynucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide according to the preceding aspect having the recombinant polypeptide.

Another aspect of the invention provides compositions containing the expression vector according to the preceding aspect.

Still another aspect of the invention provides host cells containing the expression vector according to the preceding aspect. In certain embodiments, the host cell is selected from the group consisting of a fungal cell, an yeast cell, a bacterial cell, an insect cell, and a mammalian cell.

Another aspect of the invention provides compositions containing the host cells according to the preceding aspect in any of its embodiments.

Still another aspect provides methods of producing a recombinant polypeptide including: (a) providing a population of host cells containing a vector, where the vector contains a polynucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide, which contains a GPRH motif (SEQ ID NO: 9) and a DPTGxF/Y motif (SEQ ID NO: 10) and has lactonase activity; and (b) culturing the population of cells under conditions in which the polypeptide encoded by the coding sequence of the expression vector is expressed. In certain embodiments, the polypeptide contains the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1. In other embodiments, the polypeptide contains the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2. In certain embodiments, the polypeptide contains the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3. In certain embodiments, the host cell is selected from the group consisting of a fungal cell, an yeast cell, a bacterial cell, an insect cell, and a mammalian cell.

Another aspect provides methods of producing aldonic acid including contacting a hexose-δ-lactone substrate with a recombinant polypeptide containing a GPRH motif (SEQ ID NO: 9) and a DPTGxF/Y motif (SEQ ID NO: 10) and having lactonase activity. In certain embodiments, the recombinant polypeptide contains the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1. In other embodiments, the recombinant polypeptide contains the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2. In certain embodiments, the recombinant polypeptide contains the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3. In certain embodiments, the hexose-δ-lactone substrate is selected from the group consisting of cellobiono-δ-lactone, glucono-δ-lactone, and lactono-δ-lactone.

Still another aspect provides methods of degrading biomass including contacting the biomass with the composition according to the preceding aspect having a recombinant polypeptide containing a GPRH (SEQ ID NO: 9) and a DPTGxF/Y motif (SEQ ID NO: 10) and having lactonase activity. In certain embodiments, the composition further includes CDH.

Yet another aspect provides methods of deconstructing biomass including contacting the biomass with the composition according to the preceding aspect having a recombinant polypeptide containing a GPRH (SEQ ID NO: 9) and a DPTGxF/Y motif (SEQ ID NO: 10) and having lactonase activity in order to deconstruct the biomass. In certain embodiments, the biomass contains plant material. In certain embodiments that may be combined with the preceding embodiment, the plant material is selected from the group consisting of miscanthus, switchgrass, cord grass, rye grass, reed canary grass, common reed, wheat straw, barley straw, canola straw, oat straw, corn stover, soybean stover, oat hulls, oat spelt, sorghum, rice hulls, sugarcane bagasse, corn fiber, barley, oats, flax, wheat, linseed, citrus pulp, cottonseed, groundnut, rapeseed, sunflower, peas, lupines, palm kernel, coconut, konjac, locust bean gum, gum guar, soy beans, Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS), Blue Stem, corncobs, pine, conifer softwood, eucalyptus, birchwood, willow, aspen, poplar wood, hybrid poplar, energy cane, short-rotation woody crop, crop residue, yard waste, or a combination thereof.

Another aspect provides methods of food processing including contacting a plant material with the composition according to the preceding aspect having a recombinant polypeptide containing a GPRH (SEQ ID NO: 9) and a DPTGxF/Y motif (SEQ ID NO: 10) and having lactonase activity to yield digestible plant material. In certain embodiments, the digestible plant material is fed to animals.

Another aspect provides food additives containing the composition according to the preceding aspect having a recombinant polypeptide containing a GPRH (SEQ ID NO: 9) and a DPTGxF/Y motif (SEQ ID NO: 10) and having lactonase activity.

Yet another aspect provides methods of textile cleaning including contacting a soiled textile with the composition according to the preceding aspect having a recombinant polypeptide containing a GPRH (SEQ ID NO: 9) and a DPTGxF/Y motif (SEQ ID NO: 10) and having lactonase activity to yield clean textile.

Another aspect provides methods of paper pulp bleaching containing contacting paper pulp with the composition according to the preceding aspect having a recombinant polypeptide containing a GPRH (SEQ ID NO: 9) and a DPTGxF/Y motif (SEQ ID NO: 10) and having lactonase activity to yield bleached paper pulp.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 provides a schematic representation of a mechanism of the extracellular sugar oxidation and lactone hydrolysis. Reducing sugars are initially converted to sugar lactones by extracellular oxidizing enzymes, including glucose oxidase (GOX) and cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH). Conversion to the corresponding sugar acid is catalyzed by extracellular lactonases (boxed). This conversion to aldonic acid eases subsequent steps in cellulose degradation and therefore increases efficiency of biofuel production.

FIG. 2 depicts the amino acid sequence of S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1 (Spoth1|109678) (SEQ ID NO: 1). The capped residues depict the signal peptide, double-underlined regions depict predicted N-linked glycosylation sites, and underlined regions depict peptides detected by LC-MS. The residues circled appear to be conserved in aldonolactonases.

FIG. 3 depicts the amino acid sequence of S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 2 (Spoth1|89286) (SEQ ID NO: 2). The residues circled appear to be conserved in aldonolactonases.

FIG. 4 depicts the amino acid sequence of N. crassa lactonase 2 (NCU01743) (SEQ ID NO: 3). The residues circled appear to be conserved in aldonolactonases.

FIG. 5 depicts the results of SDS-PAGE analyses of purified recombinant Spoth1|109678 and NCU07143 using a 4-15% Criterion (Biorad) gel. Lane1: Benchmark Protein ladder (dark bands at 50 kDa and 20 kDa), Lane2: Spoth1|109678 expressed in Pichia, Lane3: Spoth1|109678 expressed in Pichia (5× diluted), Lane4: NCU07143 expressed in Pichia, Lane5: NCU07143 expressed in Pichia (5× diluted). The apparent molecular mass of Spoth1|109678 and NCU07143 were between 50-60 kDa and approximately 49 kDa, respectively.

FIG. 6 depicts the results of SDS-PAGE analysis of purification fractions of endogenous S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1. Fractions were denatured by boiling in SDS buffer containing DTT. Lanes 1 and 7 depict protein ladders, lane 2 depicts crude supernatant concentrate, lane 3 depicts supernatant after removal of cellulose binding proteins, lane 4 depicts supernatant after Q HP ion-exchange chromatography, lane 5 depicts supernatant after Mono Q ion-exchange chromatography, and lane 6 depicts supernatant after PHE hydrophobic interaction chromatography.

FIG. 7 depicts the results of mass spectrometry. The de-convoluted mass spectrum of purified, intact S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase shows that the mass difference between glycoforms is approximately 162 daltons. Mass difference for double peaks is approximately 20 daltons.

FIG. 8 depicts the results of kinetic assays on S. thermophile aldonolactonase 1 using three different hexose-δ-lactones as substrate: (a) glucono-δ-lactone, (b) cellobiono-δ-lactone, and (c) lactono-δ-lactone.

FIG. 9 depicts the pH profile of S. thermophile aldonolactonase 1. Reactions were conducted at room temperature for 1 minute with 10 nM aldonolactonase, 50 mM glucono-δ-lactone, and 100 mM buffer. Buffers used included sodium citrate, pH 3.0; sodium acetate, pH 4.0; sodium acetate, pH 5.0; sodium succinate, pH 6.0; HEPES, pH 7.0; and Tris, pH 8.0. Error bars represent the standard deviation of three replicate experiments.

FIG. 10 depicts a multiple sequence alignment of S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1 (Spoth1|109678) with other aldonolactonases. Full solid circle indicates a residue in the predicted active site of NC_cmle. ST_(—)1 is S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1 (Spoth1|109678; SEQ ID NO: 1), PA_(—)1; Podospora anserina aldonolactonase 1 (XP_(—)001910211.1; SEQ ID NO: 4), TR is Trichoderma reesei (Trire2|55887; SEQ ID NO: 5), AN is Aspergillus niger (XP_(—)659716.1; SEQ ID NO: 6), ST_(—)2 is Sporotrichum thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 2 (Spoth1|89286; SEQ ID NO: 2), EC_pg1 is Escherichia coli 6-phosphogluconolactonase (NP_(—)415288.1; SEQ ID NO: 7), and NC_cmle is Neurospora crassa cis-carboxy-muconate-lactonizing enzyme (XP_(—)957686; SEQ ID NO: 8). There appears to be two conserved motifs in the aldonolactonases: a GPRH motif (SEQ ID NO: 9) (amino acids 224-227 in S. thermophile aldonolactonase 1) and a DPTGxF/Y (SEQ ID NO: 10) (amino acids 182-187 in S. thermophile aldonolactonase 1).

FIG. 11 depicts a phylogenetic tree of representative sequences showing sequence similarity with S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1. Bootstrap values from 100 iterations are listed. (*) depicts S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1, (▪) depicts protein that has been characterized biochemically, and (▴) depicts protein for which an x-ray crystal structure has been solved.

FIG. 12 depicts the specific activity of S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1 in culture broth collected after 4 days of S. thermophile growth on Vogel's salts supplemented with 2% glucose or 2% cellulose.

FIG. 13 depicts RNA-Seq expression profiling of S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1 and S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 2 after 20 hours of S. thermophile growth on glucose or cellulose. Expression is normalized based on the number of mapped reads per kilobase transcript per million mapped reads (RPKM). Aldonolactonase 1 is depicted in light gray and aldonolactonase 2 is depicted in black.

DEFINITIONS

The terms “extracellular aldonolactonase,” “aldonolactonase,” “S. thermophile aldonolactonase 1,” “S. thermophile aldonolactonase 1,” and “lactonase” refer to an enzyme capable of catalyzing the hydrolysis of aldonate and aromatic lactones to the corresponding carboxylic acids (EC 3.1.1.17). In particular, “aldonolactonases” convert hexose-δ-lactones to their corresponding aldonic acids.

The term “catalytic activity” or “activity” describes quantitatively the conversion of a given substrate under defined reaction conditions. The term “specific activity” describes quantitatively the catalytic activity per amount of enzyme under defined reaction conditions.

As used herein, the term percent “identical,” “percent identity,” and “percent sequence identity” are defined as amount of identity between a reference amino acid or nucleic acid sequence and at least one other amino acid or nucleic acid sequence. Percent sequence identity can be determined by comparing two optimally aligned sequences, wherein the portion of the sequence being compared may include additions or deletions (i.e., gaps) as compared to the reference sequence (e.g., a nucleic acid or amino acid sequence of the disclosure), which does not include additions or deletions, for optimal alignment of the two sequences. The percentage is calculated by determining the number of positions at which the identical nucleic acid or amino acid residue occurs in both sequences to yield the number of matched positions, dividing the number of matched positions by the total number of positions being compared and multiplying the result by 100 to yield the percentage of sequence identity. Two sequences have percent identity if two sequences have a specified percentage of amino acid residues or nucleic acids that are the same (i.e., 75% identical over a specified region, or, when not specified, over the entire sequence), when compared and aligned for maximum correspondence or designated region as measured using one of the following sequence comparison algorithms or by manual alignment and visual inspection.

One example of an algorithm that is suitable for determining percent sequence identity is the BLAST algorithm, which is described in Altschul et al. (1997) Nuc. Acids Res. 25:3389-3402. Software for performing BLAST analyses is publicly available through the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The BLASTP program is used with default settings of a wordlength of 3, and expectation (E) of 10, and the BLOSUM62 scoring matrix (see Henikoff and Henikoff (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:10915) alignments (B) of 50, expectation (E) of 10, M=5, N=−4, and a comparison of both strands. For nucleic acid sequences, the BLASTN program (used for nucleic acid sequences) uses as defaults a wordlength (W) of 11, an expectation (E) or 10, M=5, N=−4 and a comparison of both strands.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description sets forth numerous exemplary configurations, parameters, and the like. It should be recognized, however, that such description is not intended as a limitation on the scope of the present invention, but is instead provided as a description of exemplary embodiments.

Polypeptides

The present disclosure relates to isolated polypeptides, variants thereof or fragments thereof, having a conserved GPRH (SEQ ID NO: 9) and/or a DPTGxF/Y (SEQ ID NO: 10) motif(s) wherein said polypeptides have lactonase activity. In some embodiments, the polypeptide is an extracellular aldonolactonase. In some preferred embodiments, the polypeptide is an extracellular aldonolactonase containing the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or a variant thereof having from one to 60 mutations while retaining wild type S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1 activity (e.g., H177 and R302 of SEQ ID NO: 1). In other preferred embodiments, the polypeptide is an extracellular aldonolactonase containing the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, or a variant thereof having from one to 60 mutations while retaining wild type S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 2 activity. In some preferred embodiments, the polypeptide is an extracellular aldonolactonase containing the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3, or a variant thereof having from one to 60 mutations while retaining wild type N. crassa lactonase 2 activity. In some embodiments, the aldonolactonase has a sequence identity of at least 50%, at least 55%, at least 60%, at least 65%, at least 70%, at least 75%, preferably at least 80%, preferably at least 85%, preferably at least 90%, preferably at least 95%, preferably at least 99% or 100% to SEQ ID NO: 1. In other embodiments, the aldonolactonase has a sequence identity of at least 50%, at least 55%, at least 60%, at least 65%, at least 70%, at least 75%, preferably at least 80%, preferably at least 85%, preferably at least 90%, preferably at least 95%, preferably at least 99% or 100% to SEQ ID NO: 2. In some embodiments, the aldonolactonase has a sequence identity of at least 50%, at least 55%, at least 60%, at least 65%, at least 70%, at least 75%, preferably at least 80%, preferably at least 85%, preferably at least 90%, preferably at least 95%, preferably at least 99% or 100% to SEQ ID NO: 3.

In other embodiments, the extracellular aldonolactonase polypeptides include an amino acid sequence that differs from the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 by an insertion or a deletion of one or more amino acid residues and/or the substitution of one or more amino acid residues by different amino acid residues. In other embodiments, the extracellular aldonolactonase polypeptides include an amino acid sequence that differs from the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 by an insertion or a deletion of one or more amino acid residues and/or the substitution of one or more amino acid residues by different amino acid residues. In other embodiments, the extracellular aldonolactonase polypeptides include an amino acid sequence that differs from the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3 by an insertion or a deletion of one or more amino acid residues and/or the substitution of one or more amino acid residues by different amino acid residues. In some preferred embodiments, amino acid changes are conservative amino acid substitutions that do not significantly affect the folding and/or activity of the polypeptide; or small deletions, typically of one to about 30 amino acids. Examples of conservative substitutions are within the group of basic amino acids (arginine, lysine and histidine), acidic amino acids (glutamic acid and aspartic acid), polar amino acids (glutamine and asparagine), hydrophobic amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine), aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine, tryptophan and tyrosine), and small amino acids (glycine, alanine, serine, threonine and methionine). Amino acid substitutions which do not generally alter the specific activity are known in the art. For example, the most commonly occurring substitutions are Ala to Ser, Val to Ile, Asp to Glu, Thr to Ser, Ala to Gly, Ala to Thr, Ser to Asn, Ala to Val, Ser to Gly, Tyr to Phe, Ala to Pro, Lys to Arg, Asp to Asn, Leu to Ile, Leu to Val, Ala to Glu, and Asp to Gly as well as the reverse substitutions.

In some embodiments, the extracellular aldonolactonase polypeptides are produced recombinantly, while in others the extracellular aldonolactonase polypeptides are produced synthetically, or are purified from a native source (e.g. S. thermophile).

In other embodiments, the extracellular aldonolactonase amino acid sequences and derivatives are produced as N- and/or C-terminal fusion proteins, for example to aid in extraction, detection and/or purification and/or to add functional properties to the extracellular aldonolactonase. Examples of fusion protein partners include, but are not limited to, glutathione-S-transferase (GST), 6×His, GAL4 (DNA binding and/or transcriptional activation domains), FLAG-, MYC-tags or other tags well known to anyone skilled in the art. In some embodiments, a proteolytic cleavage site is provided between the fusion protein partner and the protein sequence of interest to allow removal of fusion protein sequences. Preferably, the fusion protein does not hinder the activity of the extracellular aldonolactonase.

In some embodiments, the extracellular aldonolactonase is fused to a functional domain including a leader peptide, propeptide, binding domain and/or catalytic domain. Suitable binding domains include, but are not limited to, carbohydrate-binding domains (e.g., CBM) of various specificities, providing increased affinity to carbohydrate components present during the application of the extracellular aldonolactonase. Suitable enzymatically active domains possess an activity that supports the action of the extracellular aldonolactonase in producing the desired product. Non-limiting examples of catalytic domains include: cellulases, hemicellulases such as xylanase, endo-mannanases, exo-mannanases, glucanases, arabinases, galactosidases, pectinases, and/or other activities such as proteases, lipases, acid phosphatases and/or others or functional fragments thereof. Fusion proteins are optionally linked to the aldonolactonase through a linker sequence that simply joins the extracellular aldonolactonase and the fusion domain without significantly affecting the properties of either component, or the linker optionally has a functional importance for the intended application.

Alternatively, the extracellular aldonolactonases described herein are used in conjunction with one or more additional proteins of interest. Non-limiting examples of proteins of interest include: hemicellulases, alpha-galactosidases, beta-galactosidases, lactases, beta-glucanases, endo-beta-1,4-glucanases, cellulases, xylosidases, xylanases, xyloglucanases, xylan acetyl-esterases, galactanases, endo-mannanases, exo-mannanases, pectinases, pectin lyases, pectinesterases, polygalacturonases, arabinases, rhamnogalacturonases, laccases, reductases, oxidases, phenoloxidases, ligninases, proteases, amylases, phosphatases, lipolytic enzymes, cutinases and/or other enzymes.

Vectors and Host Cells

In order to produce a fungal extracellular aldonolactonase, the DNA encoding the enzyme can be chemically synthesized from published sequences or obtained directly from host cells harboring the gene (e.g., by cDNA library screening or PCR amplification). In some embodiments, the extracellular aldonolactonase polynucleotide is included in an expression cassette and/or cloned into a suitable expression vector by standard molecular cloning techniques. Such expression cassettes or vectors contain sequences that assist initiation and termination of transcription (e.g., promoters and terminators), and generally contain a selectable marker.

The expression cassette or vector is introduced in a suitable expression host cell, which then expresses the corresponding extracellular aldonolactonase polynucleotide. Particularly suitable expression hosts are bacterial expression host genera including Escherichia (e.g., Escherichia coli), Pseudomonas (e.g., P. fluorescens or P. stutzerei), Proteus (e.g., Proteus mirabilis), Ralstonia (e.g., Ralstonia eutropha), Streptomyces, Staphylococcus (e.g., S. carnosus), Lactococcus (e.g., L. lactis), or Bacillus (subtilis, megaterium, licheniformis, etc.). Also particularly suitable are yeast expression hosts such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Yarrowia lipolytica, Hansenula polymorpha, Kluyveromyces lactis or Pichia pastoris. Especially suited are fungal expression hosts such as Aspergillus niger, Chrysosporium lucknowense, Aspergillus (e.g., A. oryzae, A. niger, A. nidulans, etc.) or Trichoderma reesei. Also suited are mammalian expression hosts such as mouse (e.g., NS0), Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) or Baby Hamster Kidney (BHK) cell lines. Other eukaryotic hosts such as insect cells or viral expression systems (e.g., bacteriophages such as M13, T7 phage or Lambda, or viruses such as Baculovirus) are also suitable for producing the extracellular aldonolactonases.

Promoters and/or signal sequences associated with secreted proteins in a particular host of interest are candidates for use in the heterologous production and secretion of extracellular aldonolactonases in that host or in other hosts. As an example, in filamentous fungal systems, the promoters that drive the genes for cellobiohydrolase I (cbhI), glucoamylase A (glaA), TAKA-amylase (amyA), xylanase (exlA), the gpd-promoter cbhI, cbhII, endoglucanase genes EGI-EGV, Ce161B, Ce174A, egI1-egI5, gpd promoter, Pgk1, pki1, EF-1alpha, tef1, cDNA1 and hex1 are particularly suitable and can be derived from a number of different organisms (e.g., A. niger, T. reesei, A. oryzae, A. awamori, and A. nidulans). In some embodiments, the extracellular aldonolactonase polynucleotide is recombinantly associated with a polynucleotide encoding a suitable homologous or heterologous signal sequence that leads to secretion of the extracellular aldonolactonase enzyme into the extracellular (or periplasmic) space, thereby allowing direct detection of enzyme activity in the cell supernatant (or periplasmic space or lysate). Particularly suitable signal sequences for Escherichia coli, other Gram negative bacteria and other organisms known in the art include those that drive expression of the HlyA, DsbA, Pbp, PhoA, PelB, OmpA, OmpT or M13 phage Gil1 genes. For Bacillus subtilis, Gram-positive organisms and other organisms known in the art, particularly suitable signal sequences further include those that drive expression of the AprE, NprB, Mpr, AmyA, AmyE, Blac, SacB, and for S. cerevisiae or other yeast, include the killer toxin, Bar1, Suc2, Mating factor α, Inu1A or Ggp1p signal sequence. Signal sequences can be cleaved by a number of signal peptidases, thus removing them from the rest of the expressed protein. In some embodiments, the rest of the extracellular aldonolactonase is expressed alone or as a fusion with other peptides, tags or proteins located at the N- or C-terminus (e.g., 6×His, HA or FLAG tags). Suitable fusions include tags, peptides or proteins that facilitate affinity purification or detection (e.g., 6×His, HA, chitin binding protein, thioredoxin or FLAG tags), as well as those that facilitate expression, secretion or processing of the target endo-β-mannanase. Suitable processing sites include enterokinase, STE13, Kex2 or other protease cleavage sites for cleavage in vivo or in vitro.

Extracellular aldonolactonase polynucleotides are introduced into expression host cells by a number of transformation methods including, but not limited to, electroporation, lipid-assisted transformation or transfection (“lipofection”), chemically mediated transfection (e.g., using calcium chloride and/or calcium phosphate), lithium acetate-mediated transformation (e.g., of host-cell protoplasts), biolistic “gene gun” transformation, PEG-mediated transformation (e.g., of host-cell protoplasts), protoplast fusion (e.g., using bacterial or eukaryotic protoplasts), liposome-mediated transformation, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, adenovirus or other viral or phage transformation or transduction.

Alternatively, the extracellular aldonolactonases are expressed intracellularly. Optionally, after intracellular expression of the enzyme variants, or secretion into the periplasmic space using signal sequences such as those mentioned above, a permeabilisation or lysis step can be used to release the extracellular aldonolactonase into the supernatant. The disruption of the membrane barrier is effected by the use of mechanical means such as ultrasonic waves, pressure treatment (French press), cavitation or the use of membrane-digesting enzymes such as lysozyme or enzyme mixtures. As a further alternative, the polynucleotides encoding the extracellular aldonolactonase are expressed by use of a suitable cell-free expression system. In cell-free systems, the polynucleotide of interest is typically transcribed with the assistance of a promoter, but ligation to form a circular expression vector is optional. In other embodiments, RNA is exogenously added or generated without transcription and translated in cell free systems.

Degradation of Biomass to Mono- and Oligosaccharides

The extracellular aldonolactonases and host cells of the present disclosure find use in a variety of industrial applications. For instance the extracellular aldonolactonases disclosed herein find use in biofuel production, food processing, textile cleaning and paper pulp bleaching.

Biofuel Production

The extracellular aldonolactonases of the present disclosure find use in the production of monosaccharides, disaccharides, and oligosaccharides as chemical or fermentation feedstocks from biomass for the production of ethanol, butanol, other products, or intermediates. The extracellular aldonolactonases may be in the form of a crude fermentation broth with or without the cells removed or in the form of a semi-purified or purified enzyme preparation. Alternatively, a host cell of the present disclosure is used as a source of the variant in a fermentation process with the biomass.

Biomass can include, but is not limited to, plant material, municipal solid waste, and wastepaper. Plant material includes but is not limited to miscanthus, switchgrass, cord grass, rye grass, reed canary grass, common reed, wheat straw, barley straw, canola straw, oat straw, corn stover, soybean stover, oat hulls, oat spelt, sorghum, rice hulls, sugarcane bagasse, corn fiber, barley, oats, flax, wheat, linseed, citrus pulp, cottonseed, groundnut, rapeseed, sunflower, peas, lupines, palm kernel, coconut, konjac, locust bean gum, gum guar, soy beans, Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS), Blue Stem, corncobs, pine, conifer softwood, eucalyptus, birchwood, willow, aspen, poplar wood, hybrid poplar, energy cane, short-rotation woody crop, crop residue, yard waste, or a combination thereof. The predominant polysaccharide in the primary cell wall of biomass is cellulose, the second most abundant is hemicellulose, and the third is pectin. The predominant polysaccharide in the primary cell wall of biomass is cellulose, the second most abundant is hemicellulose, and the third is pectin. The secondary cell wall, produced after the cell has stopped growing, also contains polysaccharides and is strengthened through polymeric lignin covalently cross-linked to hemicellulose. Cellulose is a homopolymer of anhydrocellobiose and thus a linear beta-(1-4)-D-glucan, while hemicelluloses include a variety of compounds, such as xylans, xyloglucans, arabinoxylans, and mannans in complex branched structures with a spectrum of substituents. Although generally polymorphous, cellulose is found in plant tissue primarily as an insoluble crystalline matrix of parallel glucan chains. Hemicelluloses usually hydrogen bond to cellulose, as well as to other hemicelluloses, which helps stabilize the cell wall matrix.

Ethanol is produced by enzymatic degradation of biomass and conversion of the released saccharides to ethanol. This kind of ethanol is often referred to as bioethanol or biofuel. It is used as a fuel additive or extender in blends of from less than 1% and up to 100% (a fuel substitute). Accordingly the extracellular aldonolactonases of the present disclosure find use in the degradation of hexose-lactone intermediates in the degradation of lignocellulosic biomass to aid in the liberation of hexose monosaccharides from biomass. The hexose monosaccharides in turn are used in the production of ethanol. In particular, the extracellular aldonolactonases of the present disclosure are placed in contact with lignocellulosic biomass for the production of hexose aldonic acids such as hexonic acid, hexabioic acid, hexatrionic acid, hexatetraonic acid, hexapentaonic acid, and/or hexahexonic acid. In a further preferred embodiment, the extracellular aldonolactonase is used in combination with other carbohydrases (e.g., glucanase, xylanase, alpha-galactosidase and/or cellulase) for more extensive hydrolysis of the plant material.

Food Processing

Several anti-nutritional factors limit the use of specific plant material in the preparation of animal feed and food for humans. Plant material containing lignocellulosic material such as cellulose greatly reduces the digestibility of the plant material by the animals. The negative effects of cellulose are in particular due to beta-(1,4)glycosidic bonds that prevent many animals from degrading cellulose to glucose. These effects are reduced through the use of cellulosic degrading enzymes, namely extracellular aldonolactonase enzymes, which permit a higher proportion of plant material to be converted to feed, resulting in a reduction of feed costs. Additionally, through the activity of the extracellular aldonolactonases, cellulosic material is broken down to simpler sugars, which can be more readily assimilated to provide additional energy. Accordingly, compositions containing the extracellular aldonolactonases of the present disclosure are preferably used for processing and/or manufacturing of food or animal feed.

The extracellular aldonolactonases of the present disclosure are useful as additives to feed for mono-gastric animals such as poultry and swine, as well as for human food. In some embodiments, the extracellular aldonolactonases are used to pre-treat the feed instead of as a feed additive. In some preferred embodiment, the extracellular aldonolactonases are added to or used to pre-treat feed from plant material such as rye, sorghum, rice, sugarcane bagasse, corn, barley, oats, flax, wheat, linseed, citrus pulp, cottonseed, groundnut, rapeseed, sunflower, peas, lupines, palm kernel, coconut, konjac, locust bean gum, gum guar, or soy beans.

In compositions containing the extracellular aldonolactonases intended for food processing or as a feed supplement, the compositions optionally contain other substituents such as coloring agents, aroma compounds, stabilizers, vitamins, minerals, other feed or food enhancing enzymes and the like. This applies in particular to the so-called pre-mixes. Food additives according to this present invention may be combined with other food components to produce processed food products. The resulting, combined food additive is mixed in an appropriate amount with other food components such as cereal or plant proteins to form a processed food product.

Textile Cleaning

The extracellular aldonolactonases of the present disclosure find use in detergent compositions to facilitate the removal of lactone-containing stains/soils. In a preferred embodiment the extracellular aldonolactonases s are used in detergent compositions in combination with other enzymes from the group of amylases, cellulases, lipases, pectinases, proteases, and endoglucanases.

Detergent compositions of the present disclosure containing the extracellular aldonolactonases are in any convenient form (e.g., a bar, a tablet, a powder, a granule, a paste or a liquid). A liquid detergent is generally aqueous, typically containing up to 70% water and 0-30% organic solvent(s), or non-aqueous component(s).

The detergent composition contains one or more surfactants (e.g., non-ionic including semi-polar, anionic, cationic and/or zwitterionic). The surfactants are typically present at a level of from 0.1% to 60% by weight. When included, detergents typically contain from about 1% to about 40% of an anionic surfactant such as linear alkylbenzenesulfonate, alpha-olefinsulfonate, alkyl sulfate (fatty alcohol sulfate), alcohol ethoxysulfate, secondary alkanesulfonate, alpha-sulfo fatty acid methyl ester, alkyl- or alkenylsuccinic acid, or soap. When included, detergents typically contain from about 0.2% to about 40% of a non-ionic surfactant such as alcohol ethoxylate, nonylphenol ethoxylate, alkylpolyglycoside, alkyldimethylamineoxide, ethoxylated fatty acid monoethanolamide, fatty acid monoethanolamide, polyhydroxy alkyl fatty acid amide, or N-acyl N-alkyl derivatives of glucosamine (glucamides).

Detergent compositions optionally include 0-65% of a detergent builder or complexing agent such as zeolite, diphosphate, triphosphate, phosphonate, carbonate, citrate, nitrilotriacetic acid, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid, alkyl- or alkenylsuccinic add, soluble silicates, or layered silicates. Detergent compositions optionally include one or more polymers such as carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), poly (vinylpyrrolidone), poly (ethylene glycol), poly (vinyl alcohol), poly (vinylpyridine-N-oxide), poly (vinylimidazole), polycarboxylates such as polyacrylates, maleic/acrylic acid copolymers, and lauryl methacrylate/acrylic acid copolymers. The detergent optionally includes a bleaching system (e.g., hydrogen peroxide source) such as perborate or percarbonate, which may be combined with a peracid-forming bleach activator such as tetraacetylethylenediamine or nonanoyloxybenzenesulfonate. Alternatively, the bleaching system contains peroxyacids of the amide, imide, or sulfone type.

In detergent compositions, the extracellular aldonolactonases are added in an amount corresponding to 0.01-100 mg of enzyme protein per liter of wash liquor, preferably 0.05-5 mg of enzyme protein per liter of wash liquor, in particular 0.1-1 mg of enzyme protein per liter of wash liquor.

Paper Pulp Bleaching

The extracellular aldonolactonases of the present disclosure find use in the enzyme aided bleaching of paper pulps such as chemical pulps, semi-chemical pulps, kraft pulps, mechanical pulps, or pulps prepared by the sulfite method. In some embodiments, the pulps are chlorine free pulps bleached with oxygen, ozone, peroxide or peroxyacids. In some embodiments, the extracellular aldonolactonases are used in enzyme aided bleaching of pulps produced by modified or continuous pulping methods that exhibit low lignin contents. In some embodiments, the extracellular aldonolactonases are applied alone or preferably in combination with xylanase and/or endoglucanase and/or alpha-galactosidase and/or cellobiohydrolase enzymes.

Discussion

Sporotrichum thermophile is a thermophilic fungus isolated from soil and self-heating compost (3). It was demonstrated that S. thermophile very rapidly degrades cellulose. During development of the present disclosure, an enzyme involved in the process of cellulose degradation was isolated from S. thermophile. As disclosed herein, an enzyme containing extracellular aldonolactonase activity was purified, identified, and characterized from the thermophilic ascomycete S. thermophile. The S. thermophile aldonolactonase hydrolyzes hexose δ-lactones over a broad range of pH values. It is stable for several days at 50° C. (the growth condition for production of the enzyme). The expression profile and kinetic parameters of the S. thermophile aldonolactonase were determined on different substrates. The results disclosed herein provide insight into how S. thermophile utilizes aldonolactonase in nutrient acquisition, especially from hexose δ-lactones and how this enzyme can be utilized for biofuel production.

Two evolutionarily distinct groups of enzymes have previously been described with 6-phosphogluconolactonase (PGL) activity. PGL activity in eukaryotes and bacteria is catalyzed by enzymes with homology to the E. coli glucosamine-6-phosphate isomerase NagB (11). Recently, the gene responsible for PGL activity was determined in E. coli (13-14). E. coli PGL has no sequence similarity with the NagB-like PGLs, and 13% sequence identity with N. crassa cis-carboxy-muconate-lactonizing enzyme (CMLE), which is an enzyme involved in the O-ketoadipate pathway (32). Homologues of E. coli PGL are ubiquitous throughout bacteria and fungi. In S. thermophile and other ascomycetes, the NagB-like PGL may be responsible for PGL activity in the pentose phosphate pathway, because the NagB-like PGL is predicted to be intracellular and shows approximately 40% sequence identity to human and yeast PGL. Interestingly, in addition to the NagB-like PGL, many ascomycetes have distant homologues of E. coli PGL that are predicted to be extracellular proteins that may have functions unrelated to that of PGL in the pentose phosphate pathway.

As disclosed herein, an S. thermophile gene with low homology to E. coli PGL was identified. The disclosed S. thermophile gene encodes the enzyme aldonolactonase 1 responsible for extracellular aldonolactonase activity in S. thermophile. As described herein, aldonolactonase 1, encoded by the Spoth1|109678 gene, is a glycoprotein and has a broad pH optimum that is similar to the pH profile reported for N. crassa CMLE. The aldonolactonase 1 displays high activity with hexose δ-lactone substrates, but no detectable activity with pentose γ-lactones. Notably, there is only a threefold difference in k_(cat)/K_(M) values for the δ-lactones of glucose, cellobiose, and lactose, indicating that the enzyme is only interacting with the glucose moiety. This is in stark contrast to the substrate specificity of cellobiose dehydrogenase and many cellulases, which often have much higher affinity for cellobiose over glucose (6, 35). Structural studies on N. crassa CMLE and E. coli PGL have shown that the active sites of these enzymes are highly conserved and probably on or near the surface of the protein (31). A surface exposed active site is consistent with kinetic results disclosed herein.

During growth on lignocellulosic biomass, S. thermophile induces the expression of two E. coli PGL-like lactonases (as disclosed herein, aldonolactonase 1 and aldonolactonase 2). A recent genome wide expression profiling study of N. crassa identified NCU07143, a protein with sequence homology to the S. thermophile lactonases (homology to aldonolactonase 1: 24%; homology to aldonolactonase 2: 67%), as being strongly upregulated during growth on lignocellulose and pure cellulose (21) NCU07143 was also detected in the secretome of N. crassa while growing on cellulose and lignocellulose, confirming that it is also an extracellular enzyme. S. thermophile aldonolactonase 2 has approximately 28% sequence identity with S. thermophile aldonolactonase 1. Despite the low sequence identity, all of the predicted active site residues are conserved in both S. thermophile lactonases and are more closely related to one another than to any other predicted bacterial lactonases.

Genes with sequence similarity to the N. crassa and S. thermophile lactonases are also present in Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma reesei (16). While generally absent in yeast, extracellular aldonolactonase-like genes are widespread in filamentous ascomycetes. All sequenced cellulolytic ascomycetes have genes with homology to either S. thermophile aldonolactonase 1 or aldonolactonase 2. However, BLAST queries against the genomes of currently sequenced basidiomycetes only return proteins with very low homology, and none are predicted to be extracellular proteins.

A periplasmic gluconolactonase (PpgL) with low sequence homology to the S. thermophile lactonases was recently characterized in the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa (33). Similar to fungi, P. aeruginosa contains a NagB-like intracellular PGL that provides aldonolactonase activity in the pentose phosphate pathway (12). Furthermore, it was shown that deletion of PpgL caused severe growth phenotypes on gluconate, 2-ketogluconate, and mannitol, as well as a decrease in pigment formation. However, P. aeruginosa is not cellulolytic, so the PpgL is not involved in any cell wall degradation processes, highlighting the diverse role of lactonases in metabolism.

In short, the biochemical characterization of S. thermophile aldonolactonase 1 described herein, provides guidance as to the use of S. thermophile aldonolactonase 1 in hydrolyzing hexose δ-lactones as a step in the process of degrading lignocellulosic biomass for subsequent biofuel production. Knowledge of the mechanism of action is not necessary in order to make and use the present disclosure.

Example 1 Materials and Methods

Materials. With the exception of the sugar lactones, all chemicals were of reagent grade quality and purchased from commercial vendors. The sugar lactones were synthesized by a modified Frush and Isbell procedure (18). Briefly, in 100 mL of ice-cold water, 0.015 mole of sugar, 0.03 mole of calcium carbonate, and 0.02 mole of bromine were mixed and stored in the dark for 24 hours at room temperature. Residual bromine was removed by purging the solution with nitrogen gas for 1 hour. Excess silver carbonate was then added to the solution and the precipitate removed by filtration. The sugar lactone-containing filtrate was then applied to an amberlite IR-120(H+) resin. The column was washed with 5 column volumes of water and the sugar lactone-containing eluate was collected. The eluate was then concentrated on a rotary evaporator at 55° C. Purity of each sugar lactone was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) as described below.

Cloning and Purification of Recombinant N. crassa NCU07143 and S. thermophile Aldonolactonase 1.

The following primer pairs were used for amplification of NCU07143 and Spoth1|109678:

NCU07143 Restriction Enzymes: KpnI and XbaI NCU07143-forward: (SEQ ID NO: 11) ATATATATGGTACCGCCACTTTGCTGGTTTCC  NCU07143-reverse:   (SEQ ID NO: 12) ATATATATTCTAGATTCTCTACCCAAACGACAGCACTAAG Spoth1|109678 Restriction Enzymes: KpnI and XbaI Spoth1|109678-forward: (SEQ ID NO: 13) ATATATATGGTACCGCCCCGGTCTGTGGC Spoth1|109678-reverse:   (SEQ ID NO: 14) ATATATATTCTAGATTCTGCTTAAACGTGGCAAAGTTG

For Spoth1|109678, cDNA was isolated from S. thermophile cultures grown on Vogel's minimal media supplemented with 2% (w/v) cotton balls.

For NCU07143, cDNA was isolated from N. crassa cultures grown on Vogel's minimal media supplemented with 2% (w/v) Avicel.

The PCR products were gel purified and cloned into Zero Blunt® TOPO® vectors according to the manufacturer's instructions. The Ppiczα-A vector and the TOPO vector containing the lactonases were digested with KpnI and XbaI. The inserts and cut vectors were gel purified. The vector was then treated with antarctic phosphatase. The insert was ligated into the Ppiczα-A vector using T4 DNA ligase. The plasmid with the correct insert was then transformed into Pichia pastoris according to the manufacturer's instructions (Pichia EasySelect Expression Kit, Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif.). Expression was induced using methanol at a concentration of 0.5% (v/v) according to the Pichia EasySelect Expression Kit's instructions.

After 2 days of induction with methanol, cultures were harvested. Cells were removed by centrifugation and the culture broth was concentrated and buffer exchanged using tangential flow filtration into 25 mM Tris pH 8.0. The concentrated culture supernatant was then run over a 5 mL Fastflow HisTrap column (GE Healthcare, Piscataway, N.J.). Recombinant protein was eluted from the column with 200 mM imidazole in 25 mM Tris pH 8.0 and 500 mM NaCl. SDS-PAGE analyses of the purified proteins are shown in FIG. 5.

Cloning and Expression of Recombinant S. thermophile Aldonolactonase 2 (Spoth1|89286).

S. thermophile was grown on Vogel's media supplemented with 2% w/v glucose for 30 hours at 48° C. Mycelia was then isolated by filtration, frozen in liquid nitrogen and ground to a fine powder using a mortar and pestle. Approximately 100 mg of the powder was processed using a Qiagen Plant DNEasy genomic DNA isolation kit according to the manufacturer's instructions. Spoth1189286 was amplified from the genomic DNA using the following primers: Spoth1|89286-Forward (TACTTCCAATCCAATGCAATGT (SEQ ID NO: 15)) and Spoth1|89286-Reverse (CTCCCACTACCAATGCCCTGC (SEQ ID NO: 16)).

The PCR product was gel purified and treated with T4 DNA polymerase in the presence of 25 mM dCTP to generate sticky ends. The pNeurA plasmid was digested with SspI and gel-purified. The plasmid was then treated with T4 DNA polymerase in the presence of 25 mM dGTP to generate sticky ends. The pNeurA plasmid and the Spoth1|89286 PCR products with sticky ends were then mixed together and allowed to anneal at 22° C. for 5 minutes followed by transformation into chemically competent E. coli. Several clones were sequenced to confirm the correct insertion of Spoth1|89286 into pNeurA. pNeurA containing Spoth1|89286 was transformed into a histidine auxotroph of Neurospora crassa as previously described (19). Transformants able to grow on media lacking histidine were then screened for GFP fluorescence to confirm the production of Spoth1|89286. Once a transformant was isolated with GFP, the conidia were inoculated onto a fresh slant containing Vogel's media agar supplemented with 2% w/v sucrose. The culture was grown on slants for 10 days and then inoculated into liquid culture containing Vogel's media supplemented with 2% w/v sucrose. After 2 days of growth in liquid culture, the mycelia was washed with water and transferred to Vogel's media supplemented with 2% w/v sodium acetate to induce expression of Spoth1|89286. After 2 days of growth on the acetate media, the culture was harvested, filtered over 0.2 micron PES filters to remove any residual biomass, and concentrated using a tangential flow filtration system with a 10,000 MWCO PES membrane.

Lactonase activity on gluconolactone was confirmed using the standard gluconolactonase assay (as described in other sections). The protein was not further purified because the affinity purification tag was removed by endogenous proteases in N. crassa.

Strains and Growth Conditions to Purify Endogenous S. thermophile Aldonolactonase 1.

S. thermophile ATCC strain 42464 was obtained from the American Type Culture Collection. S. thermophile was maintained on Vogel's salts agar (20) containing 2% cellobiose. Conidia (fungal spores) were isolated from agar plates grown for 7 days at 48° C. For aldonolactonase induction studies fresh S. thermophile conidia were inoculated into liquid culture containing Vogel's salts supplemented with either 2% glucose or cellulose, and grown at 48° C. with shaking at 200 rpm.

Endogenous S. thermophile Aldonolactonase 1 Purification.

For aldonolactonase purification, S. thermophile conidia were inoculated into a complex media containing 1.0 g/L casamino acids, 1.0 g/L yeast extract, 0.5 g/L potassium chloride, 0.2 g/L magnesium sulfate heptahydrate, 1.0 g/L potassium dihydrogen phosphate, and trace elements solution. The culture was grown at 48° C. with shaking at 200 rpm for 24 hours and then the fungal mycelia (vegetative part of fungus) was harvested by filtration and used to inoculate fresh complex media, containing 5 g/L cellulose (Avicel® PH 101, Sigma, St. Louis, Mo.) to induce expression of the aldonolactonase.

After 48 hours of growth on complex media containing cellulose, S. thermophile mycelia and residual cellulose were removed from the culture by filtering over 0.2 micron polyethersulfone (PES) filters. The filtered culture broth was then concentrated and buffer exchanged using tangential flow filtration with a 10 kDa molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) PES membrane (Millipore, Billerica, Mass.) into 25 mM 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid (HEPES) buffer, pH 7.4. The concentrated culture broth was then mixed with excess cellulose to remove cellulose-binding proteins and the cellulose particles were separated by vacuum filtration over a glass microfiber filter. The filtrate was then loaded onto a 5 mL Q Sepharose® High Performance (Q HP) anion exchange chromatography column (GE Healthcare) at a rate of 5 mL/min. Aldonolactonase was then eluted from the Q HP column with a sodium chloride (NaCl) linear concentration gradient ranging from 0 to 0.5 M NaCl over 15 column volumes. Column fractions were then collected and assayed form aldonolactonase activity (see above). Fractions with the highest aldonolactonase activity were pooled and buffer exchanged into 25 mM HEPES buffer pH 7.4. Each protein-containing fraction was then loaded onto a Mono Q™ 10/100 GL high performance anion exchange chromatography column (GE Healthcare) and eluted with a NaCl linear concentration gradient ranging from 0 to 0.5 M NaCl over 8 column volumes. Fractions containing aldonolactonase activity were pooled and adjusted to 1.5 M ammonium sulfate and 25 mM HEPES, pH 7.4. Each sample was then loaded onto a 1.0 mL RESOURCE™ PHE hydrophobic interaction chromatography column (GE Healthcare). Aldonolactonase enzyme does not bind the PHE column and thus flows through as a pure species. The purified aldonolactonase was concentrated and buffer exchanged with 10 kDa MWCO spin concentrators (Millipore) and stored at −80° C. Aldonolactonase activity is stable for several months under these conditions.

Enzyme Assays.

Aldonolactonase activity was measured as described by Hestrin (21). The reactions were carried out in triplicate in 96-well microtiter plates. Briefly, 100 μL of 100 mM freshly dissolved sugar lactone was immediately mixed with 100 μL of 10 nM aldonolactonase enzyme buffered in 100 mM sodium acetate pH 5.0 for 1 minute at 25° C. The reaction was quenched by adding 40 μL of alkaline hydroxylamine (2.0 M hydroxylamine hydrochloride, 1.5 M sodium hydroxide) for 1 minute. Twenty microliters of 4.0 M hydrochloric acid was then added to acidify the solution and stabilize the sugar hydroxamate. Color was developed by adding 20 μL of 0.5 M ferric chloride (FeCl₃) and the absorbance at 540 nm was measured. For all experiments, control measurements were made on control samples where no enzyme was added. The background hydrolysis was subtracted from the total hydrolysis in the presence of enzyme. This typically amounted to less than 10% of the total lactone.

Mass Spectrometry Peptide Fingerprinting.

Thirty-six milligrams of urea, 5 μL of 100 mM DTT, and 5 μL of 1.0 M Tris, pH 8.5, were added to a 100 μL aqueous solution of 10 μM aldonolactonase and heated at 70° C. for 1 hour. After heat denaturation, 700 μL of 25 mM ammonium bicarbonate and 140 μL of methanol were added to the solution followed by treatment with 50 μL of 100 μg/mL trypsin in 50 mM sodium acetate, pH 5.0. The protein was digested with trypsin overnight at 37° C. After digestion the volume was reduced using a vacuum concentrator, and washed with purified, de-ionized water three times. Residual salts in the sample were removed by OMIX® microextraction pipette tips according to the manufacturer's instructions (Varian, Palo Alto, Calif.). Peptides from the trypsin digest were analyzed using a tandem mass spectrometer that was connected in-line with ultraperformance liquid chromatography as described (22).

Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Proteins.

Protein samples were analyzed using a 1200 series liquid chromatograph (LC; Agilent, Santa Clara, Calif.) that was connected in-line with an LTQ Orbitrap XL™ hybrid mass spectrometer equipped with an Ion Max™ electrospray ionization source (ESI; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, Mass.).

The LC was equipped with a C8 guard (Poroshell 300SB-C8, 5 μm, 12.5×2.1 mm, Agilent), analytical (75×0.5 mm) columns, and a 100 μL sample loop. LC solvent A included 0.1% formic acid/99.9% water (v/v), and solvent B included 0.1% formic acid/99.9% acetonitrile (v/v). Sample solutions contained in auto-sampler vials sealed with rubber septa caps were loaded into the Agilent 1200 auto-sampler compartment prior to analysis. For each sample, approximately 100 picomoles of protein analyte were injected onto the column. Following sample injection, analyte trapping was performed for 5 min with 99.5% of solvent A at a flow rate of 90 μL/min. The elution program included a solvent B linear concentration gradient ranging from 30% to 95% solvent B over 24.5 min, incubation at isocratic conditions at 95% solvent B for 5 min, a solvent B linear concentration gradient to 0.5% solvent B over 0.5 min, and incubation at isocratic conditions at 0.5% solvent B for 9.5 min at a flow rate of 90 μL/min. The column and sample compartments were maintained at 35° C. and 10° C., respectively. Solvent blanks containing only purified, de-ionized water were run between samples, and the auto-sampler injection needle was rinsed with purified, de-ionized water after each sample injection to avoid cross-contamination between samples.

The connections between the LC column exit and the ESI probe of the mass spectrometer were made using PEEK™ tubing (0.005″ i.d.× 1/16″ o.d., Western Analytical, Lake Elsinore, Calif.). External mass calibration was performed prior to analysis using the standard LTQ MS calibration mixture containing caffeine, the peptide MRFA, and the Ultramark 1621® mixture of fluorinated phosphazenes dissolved in 51% acetonitrile/25% methanol/23% water/1% acetic acid solution (v/v). The ESI source parameters were as follows: ion transfer capillary temperature 275° C., normalized sheath gas (nitrogen) flow rate 25%, ESI voltage 2.5 kV, ion transfer capillary voltage 33 V, and tube lens voltage 125 V. Mass spectra were recorded in the positive ion mode over the range m/z=500 to 2000 using the Orbitrap™ mass analyzer, in profile format, with a full MS automatic gain control target setting of 5×10⁵ charges and a resolution setting of 6×10⁴ (at m/z=400, FWHM). Raw mass spectra were processed using the Xcalibur™ software (version 4.1, Thermo), and measured charge state distributions were deconvoluted using the ProMass® software (version 2.5 SR-1, Novatia, Monmouth Junction, N.J.) using default “large protein” parameters and a background subtraction factor of 1.5.

Nanoelectrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry of Native Proteins.

Mass spectra of native proteins were acquired using a quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-T of) mass spectrometer equipped with a Z-spray® electrospray ionization (ESI) source (Q-T of Premier™, Waters, Milford, Mass.). Ions were formed from aqueous solutions containing 10 μM analyte protein and 10 mM ammonium acetate, using positive-ion nanoelectrospray ionization (nanoESI). NanoESI emitters were made from borosilicate glass capillary tubes (1.0 mm o.d./0.78 mm i.d, Sutter Instruments, Novato, Calif.) that were pulled to a tip with an inner diameter of approximately 5 to 20 μm using a Flaming/Brown micropipette puller (Model P-87, Sutter). Approximately 10 μL of each sample solution was added into a nanoESI emitter using a 10 μL syringe (Hamilton, Reno, Nev.). The electrospray was initiated by gradually increasing the DC potential applied to a platinum wire (0.127 mm diameter, Aldrich, Milwaukee, Wis.), which was inserted into the nanoESI emitter to within approximately 2 mm of the tip, until the onset of mass spectral signal. No back pressure was used for nanoESI. Instrument parameters during data collection were as follows: nanoESI voltage 1.8 kV, sampling cone voltage 30 V, extraction cone and ion guide voltages both 4.0 V, source block temperature 80° C., accelerating voltage into the argon-filled cell 2 V, ion transfer stage pressure 6×10⁻³ mbar, argon-filled cell pressure 8×10⁻³ mbar, and T of analyzer pressure 8×10⁻⁷ mbar. The pressure in the first pumping stage was increased to 7.4 mbar by adjusting an Edwards® Speedivalve vacuum valve to favor the preservation of non-covalent complexes in gas phase. No cone gas flow was used. The T of analyzer was operated in “V” mode. External mass calibration of the T of analyzer was performed immediately prior to measurements. Mass spectra were processed using the MassLynx™ software (version 4.1, Waters).

Multiple Sequence Alignments and Phylogenetics.

Orthologues of the S. thermophile aldonolactonase protein were found with a basic local alignment search tool (BLAST; 23) query of the aldonolactonase sequence against a database of predicted fungal proteins from finished and ongoing fungal genome projects. Bacterial sequences were obtained by BLAST against the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. Multiple sequence alignments were done locally using the T-COFFEE multiple sequence alignment software (24). A maximum likelihood phylogeny was determined using the PHYlogenetic Inferences Using Maximum Likelihood (PhyML) software, version 3.0, with 100 bootstraps through the Phylogeny.fr webserver (25).

mRNA-Seq expression profiling. Messenger RNA was isolated from S. thermophile after 20 hours of growth and Illumina® cDNA libraries were generated following standard protocols according to the manufacturer's instructions (26). Sequencing was performed on the Illumina® Genome Analyzer II high-throughput sequencing system. Read lengths were trimmed to 31 nt and mapped against all predicted transcripts in the S. thermophile genome using the MAQ genome short read alignment software (27). Expression was normalized by counting the number of reads mapped per kilobase of exon model divided by the total number of mapped reads in the whole dataset, RPKM (28). Mapping entailed matching the 31-nt mRNA sequences against the predicted full length mRNA sequences determined computationally from the genome sequence. If a gene is highly expressed, there would be many fragments generated by the Solexa sequencing that match the gene sequence. If, in contrast, the gene is expressed at low levels, very few Solexa reads would match the gene sequence.

Results

The gene encoding S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1 is 1,491 base pairs in length, and contains three introns. The open reading frame is 1,206 base pairs in length and encodes a 401 amino acid polypeptide with a calculated mass of 42,509 Da. The protein is predicted to contain a 20 amino acid N-terminal signal peptide (29). There are also three predicted N-linked glycosylation sites (30). Indeed, no peptides were detected in regions with predicted glycosylation, thud providing evidence of N-linked glycosylation.

Purification and properties of recombinant S. thermophile aldonolactonase 1.

FIG. 5 depicts the SDS-PAGE analysis of the purified protein. Apparent molecular mass of the aldonolactonase was between 50-60 kDa and the recombinant enzyme had similar activity as the endogenously purified protein described below.

Purification and Properties of Endogenous S. Thermophile Aldonolactonase 1.

The S. thermophile aldonolactonase activity was isolated from the culture broth of S. thermophile grown on rich media containing cellulose as the carbon source. Purification of S. thermophile aldonolactonase was performed in five steps (Table 1). The aldonolactonase was purified 25-fold with an overall yield of 25%. Two key purification steps were the Q HP ion-exchange chromatography and the PHE hydrophobic interaction chromatography. SDS-PAGE of the purified aldonolactonase indicated a molecular mass of approximately 48 kDa (FIG. 6). Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis of the intact aldonolactonase showed several species centered around 44 kDa and differing in mass by approximately 162 daltons, which corresponds to the mass of a hexose subunit (FIG. 7). This result indicated the presence of protein glycosylation, a common post-translational modification in extracellular proteins secreted by fungi. Native protein LC-MS analysis of the aldonolactonase in 10 mM ammonium acetate indicated the protein is a monomer in solution, which is consistent with gel filtration retention times.

TABLE 1 Purification of endogenous S. thermophile aldonolactonase 1. Total Spec. Purifi- Re- Volume Protein Activity^(α) Act. cation covery Step (mL) (mg) (U) (U/mg) (fold) (%) Crude 175 162.1 101,140 620 1 100 Concentrate Cellulose 120 68.2 60,060 880 1.4 60 Binding Q HP 10 14.6 39,510 2,710 4.3 39 MonoQ 6 3.9 24,930 6,430 10.3 25 Resource 9 1.6 25,160 15,360 24.6 25 PHE ^(α)Activity was measured by adding diluted enzyme mixture with 50 mM glucono-δ-lactone and quenching the reaction after 1 minute. One unit of activity is defined as the hydrolysis of 1 μmol of glucono-δ-lactone per minute at 25° C.

The second-order rate constant, k_(cat)/K_(M), for the S. thermophile aldonolactonase 1 with glucono-δ-lactone as a substrate at 25° C. and pH 5.0 was approximately 6×10⁵ M⁻¹ s⁻¹ (Table 2; FIG. 8 a). This activity is approximately 20-fold higher than that reported for lactonases isolated from other filamentous fungi (16). The aldonolactonase reaction velocity showed a broad pH optimum (FIG. 9), with only a 3-fold change in activity from pH 3.0 to pH 8.0.

TABLE 2 Steady-state kinetic constants for various aldonolactones. Substrate K_(M) (mM) k_(cat) (s⁻¹) k_(cat)/K_(M) (10⁵ M⁻¹s⁻¹) D-Glucono- 20.3 ± 4.1 11,700 ± 1000  5.8 ± 1.3 δ-lactone D-Cellobiono- 21.6 ± 1.8  29,100 ± 1,100 13.5 ± 1.2 δ-lactone D-Lactono-  5.9 ± 2.4 7,400 ± 600 12.5 ± 5.2 δ-lactone

Substrate Specificity of S. Thermophile Aldonolactonase 1.

Pentose and hexose sugar lactones were synthesized as described above. The S. thermophile aldonolactonase 1 was shown to completely hydrolyze gluconolactone, cellobionolactone, and lactonolactone to their corresponding aldonic acids. The initial rates of hydrolysis were similar for gluconolactone, cellobionolactone, and lactonolactone (Table 2; FIG. 8 a-c). The k_(cat)/K_(M) for the three substrates varied by less than 3 fold, indicating that the reducing-end glucose moiety of each substrate is what principally interacts with the aldonolactonase. Xylonolactone and arabinolactone, which are present as γ-lactones in aqueous solution (7), were not hydrolyzed by the enzyme. Glucono-δ-lactone can be partially converted to glucono-γ-lactone by heating in water above 100° C. When a supersaturated aqueous solution of glucono-δ-lactone was autoclaved for 15 minutes and then provided as a substrate, a portion of the lactone was rapidly hydrolyzed, while the remaining lactone was hydrolyzed at a much slower rate. This result is consistent with rapid, enzyme catalyzed hydrolysis of the δ-lactone ring, and slow, uncatalyzed hydrolysis of the γ-lactone ring.

Amino Acid Sequence of S. Thermophile Aldonolactonase 1.

The purified aldonolactonase was digested with trypsin and the tryptic peptides were analyzed using LC-MS. A database search against all possible tryptic fragments in the S. thermophile proteome (Joint Genome Institute (MI; Sporotrichum thermophile, v1.0) revealed seven peptides matching Spoth1|109678, and one peptide matching Spoth1|103702. The signal intensity for the Spoth1|103702 peptide was 20- to 100-fold lower than the signal intensity for peptides from Spoth1|109678, indicating that it was a trace impurity of the protein preparation. Based on the number of peptides detected and relative signal intensity for those peptides, the S. thermophile aldonolactonase enzyme was identified as Spoth1|109678 (S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1).

S. Thermophile Aldonolactonase Sequence Alignments and Phylogenetic Relationships.

The S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1 amino acid sequence was analyzed for conserved domains using the Pfam protein family database (31). Immediately after the predicted signal peptide is a 370 amino acid domain classified as a 3-carboxy-cis,cis-muconate lactonizing enzyme (CMLE). The overall sequence identity of the S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1 with Neurospora crassa cis-carboxy-muconate lactonizing enzyme (32-33) is only 13%. However, all of the predicted active site residues in N. crassa CMLE (32) are conserved in the S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1 (FIG. 10).

Predicted homologues of the aldonolactonase were retrieved from NCBI and JGI, based on amino acid sequences showing significant similarity by BLAST. Homologues of the extracellular aldonolactonase are present in many filamentous ascomycetes, and most are predicted to be secreted. Some basidiomycetes have distant homologues, which are not predicted to be secreted. The only characterization of any of these proteins in the literature is in bacteria and most of those have very low sequence identity (<30% sequence identity). The closest biochemically characterized bacterial proteins with homology to the S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase were shown to have 6-phosphogluconolactonase activity in Escherichia coli (13-14) and multifunctional aldonolactonase activity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa (33) (FIG. 10). No homologues were found in plants or animals with sequenced genomes.

All of the sequences are predicted to have the same fold and probably the same active site. As mentioned earlier, and as shown in the multiple sequence alignment in FIG. 10, the conserved active site residues of the distantly related N. crassa CMLE (e.g., H149 and E213) are present in S. thermophile aldonolactonases 1 and 2 (residues marked by solid black dots), despite CMLE and the aldonolactonase 1 sharing only 13% sequence identity. As the legend for FIG. 10 refers to, the symbols indicate proteins that have had some form of characterization done on them. This includes x-ray crystal structures (by structural genomics consortia, filled triangles) or biochemical/genetic characterization (filled squares). Homology models using some of the bacterial homologues as a template indicate that the active site residues are all concentrated on a very solvent exposed region on the surface of the protein.

All the predicted bacterial and fungal aldonolactonases seem to have a conserved GPRH motif (SEQ ID NO: 9) (circled in FIG. 10; SEQ ID NO: 1). Only the N. crassa CMLE sequence, which is probably not a lactonase (33), does not contain the conserved G and H residues in the motif (FIG. 10). All the fungal lactonases also have a conserved DPTGxF/Y motif (SEQ ID NO: 10) that is partially absent in N. crassa CMLE and mostly absent in E. coli Pgl.

A sequence alignment and maximum likelihood phylogeny (PhyML) of representative homologues showed two distinct clades within the ascomycetes (FIG. 11). Many sordariomycetes have two proteins with homology to the S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase. Group 1 lactonases are less conserved than group 2 lactonases. The aspergilli only possess a single copy of a group 2 aldonolactonase. Expression of the group 2 aldonolactonase in N. crassa was shown to be highly upregulated in response to growth on pure cellulose or ground Miscanthus stems and was identified in the secretome under both conditions (21).

S. Thermophile Aldonolactonase Induction by Cellulose.

After four days of growth, S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase activity was approximately 4-fold higher in culture broth of S. thermophile grown on cellulose compared to that of culture broth of S. thermophile grown on glucose (FIG. 12). This result indicates that S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1 can be used in the process of degrading cello-oligosaccharide-containing biomass.

Using the nucleotide sequence of S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1 (Spoth1|109678) and S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 2 (Spoth1189286), expression levels of the two S. thermophile aldonolactonases were investigated using mRNA-Seq (27). The S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1 showed a relatively high basal expression level when grown on glucose, but was upregulated approximately six-fold when grown on cellulose (FIG. 13). The S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 2 was expressed at extremely low levels when grown on glucose, and was also strongly induced when grown on cellulose. However, the absolute level of expression was substantially lower for aldonolactonase 2 (approximately 40 RPKM) than for aldonolactonase 1 (approximately 1000 RPKM). These results indicate that S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1 is more readily induced by cello-oligosaccharides, such as cellulose, than is S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 2. Thus, S. thermophile extracellular aldonolactonase 1 is better suited for use in the process of degrading cello-oligosaccharide-containing biomass.

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What is claimed is:
 1. A method of producing aldonic acid comprising contacting a hexose-δ-lactone substrate with a recombinant polypeptide comprising SEQ ID NO: 9 wherein said polypeptide has lactonase activity.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the hexose-δ-lactone substrate is cellobiono-δ-lactone.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the hexose-δ-lactone substrate is glucono-δ-lactone.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the hexose-δ-lactone substrate is lactono-δ-lactone.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein said recombinant polypeptide is produced in a cell.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein said cell is a yeast cell.
 7. The method of claim 5 wherein said cell is a bacterial cell. 